The Joint Land-Use
Fairness Committee reviewed a new
plan to address Measure 37 Thursday
despite a partisan impasse the
previous week.
The controversial land-use
law has led to a plethora of
complaints and legal action against
the state and c o u n t i e s from
property owners s e e k i n g relief
from
land-use laws
enacted in the past three decades.
The new plan, referred to
as “the framework,” would provide
two “express lanes” for those who
have already filed Measure 37
claims. Those “lanes” would expedite
claims involving construction of 10
homes or less. Claimants also could
opt to stick with the rights they
are pursuing.
Eligible claimants for
expedited processing would be
notified of their options by Sept.
30 and have 90 days to file for
either option.
The framework also outlines
how prospective claims would be
handled in the future. Claimants
would have to file within two years
of the enactment of the landuse law
that restricted the use of their
property and would be required to
prove a value loss of 20 percent or
more.
State Rep. Bill Garrard,
R-Klamath Falls, a member of the
committee formed to address Measure
37 concerns, came out against the
framework with fellow committee
member state Rep. Patti Smith,
R-Corbett.
Both contend in a press
release that the plan is a product
of Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s staff and
of Democratic committee members.
Garrard and Smith said they never
agreed to a value loss threshold in
their negotiations, nor a time limit
for prospective claims.
“Those responsible for
this ‘framework’ have negotiated in
bad faith with us and have wasted
significant amounts of our time,”
the press release stated.
Local school districts
also received a reprieve from state
lawmakers in regard to resolving
issues with the overlap zone.
The House Subcommittee on
Innovation in Education gave Klamath
County and
Klamath Falls city school districts
until February to address concerns
with overlap boundary zone. In the
overlap, students attend county
elementary and junior high schools
and then transfer to a city district
high school.
Garrard introduced House
Bill 2576, which would require
districts with overlap zones to
modify boundaries or consolidate, to
force the districts to resolve the
overlap zone issue.
State Rep. Betty Komp,
D-Woodburn, and subcommittee
chairwoman, issued letters to the
districts’ superintendents
requesting them to appear before the
subcommittee in February to report
progress.
“It really worked out well
for both sides,” Garrard said.
Federal
Federal lawmakers from
Oregon advocated the importance of
timber and forest lands this week.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, DOre.,
announced Wednesday that the
International Trade Commission will
conduct an investigation into
competitive conditions affecting the
U.S. wood flooring and hardwood
plywood industries.
About 2,000 Oregonians
work in the hardwood plywood
industry.
Wyden has pushed since
November for federal officials to
investigate what he called in a
press release “unfair and possibly
illegal
foreign trading practices,”
specifically relating to imports
from China.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden,
R-Ore., also noted the importance of
Oregon’s forests during a hearing by
the Select Committee on Energy
Independence and Global Warming, of
which he is a member.
The Congressman’s comments
focused on how better forest
management practices could lead to
better control of greenhouse gases
due to less risk of forest fires
that emit large amounts of carbon.
California
State Sen. Dave Cox, RFair
Oaks, is continuing efforts to
protect communities from the effects
of prisons.
State officials are under
pressure to reform and address
problems within its prison system as
the federal government threatens to
take over supervision of the system
after legal action by inmates.
Cox has opposed efforts to
open previously closed prisons to
ease overcrowding issues. He
introduced Senate Bill 878, which
would require the state to include
mitigation measures for communities
where prison facilities are being
built or expanded.
The bill received
unanimous approval from the Senate
Public Safety Committee and will now
move to the Senate Environmental
Quality Committee.